Summer is here

Identical twins Brynn & Brooke Hosley, 4, of Webster kick off the summer season at Webster Lake with their parents.

While Central Massachusetts residents may not celebrate the summer solstice with as much vigor as people in other parts of the world, we can rejoice in the fact we won't be getting any more heavy rain at least for a few days.

This has been the third wettest June so far since records have been kept in Worcester, but forecasters say we will be a getting a break in the rainy pattern until at least the middle of next week.

"We have dry, sunny weather now because high pressure is right over us and that will be moving off the coast," said Charles Foley, a meteorologist in the Taunton office of the National Weather Service.

Mr. Foley said after the high pressure moves off the East Coast, winds will become southwest and warmer air will move into the area. Forecasts are calling for high temperatures approaching 90 degrees for the first part of next week before a cold front moves into the area on Wednesday.

Thomas N. Kines, a senior meteorologist for AccuWeather, Inc. said this area has been very wet since late May because the jet stream that controls where weather systems go has been to the south of New England, which has caused moisture-laden storms to move across the region. He said the jet stream will move to the north of Central Massachusetts for the next few days allowing the hot, humid air to flow here. However, some computer models hint at a return to the wet pattern later next week.

Gregory C. Watson, commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Services, said most farmers in Central Massachusetts have been affected in some way by this month's deluge, especially those who are in the lowlands.

"It looks like we are going into a dry period," he said yesterday.

Randy Morse, the owner of Morse Farms in Southbridge, hopes that is true. Mr. Morse, like many farmers, said dry weather is less of a problem than wet weather.

"I haven't been able to get into the fields for the past three weeks," he said. "The old saying is a farmer starves in the wet weather and worries himself to death in the dry weather."

Meteorologists have long known that Alaska can be an indicator of weather in the Northeast. After an extremely cold winter and spring, that state has been baking in record heat for this month. When it is warm in Alaska, New England is usually cool and wet, as it has been here this month. Alaska is supposed to stay very warm for the next week, but the warm air that was there is expected to flow into Central Canada and the northeast.

Mr. Kines said the cold air in Central Canada that went southeast into New England earlier this month has been used up, which means temps should stay at or just above normal in the coming weeks. Christy Splechter, spokesman for the Fairbanks office of the National Weather Service, said most people don't like the recent hot weather that has seen the temperature soar to 90 degrees.

"Most people up here don't have air-conditioning," she said.

One place that does have air-conditioning is Death Valley National Park in California which will be noting on July 10, the 100th anniversary of the recording of the highest documented temperature in the world.

Park Ranger Alan D. Van Valkenburg said the highest temperature he's experienced is 129 degrees, which is five degrees short of the world record of 134 degrees.

"When it gets above 115 degrees the air stings your skin," he said. "When it's 129 degrees it feels like you're opening the oven in your house." Today's high temperature in Death Valley is predicted to be a relatively cool 106 degrees.

Mr Van Valkenburg said he does not expect an increase in solstice celebrating visitors today but he noted that more Americans have been stopping by the visitor center in Furnace Creek during the summer in recent years. People living in the far north take the time to enjoy the sun-filled days surrounding the summer solstice. For example, the summer solstice is a national holiday in Sweden where people decorate their houses to note the day.

Meanwhile, stores stay open all night in Reykjavik Iceland where the sun is above the horizon for almost 22 hours.

The 108th Midnight Sun Baseball Classic is scheduled to start at 10:30 tonight in Fairbanks, Ak. The event usually ends about 1:30 a.m. and organizers say the game was called on account of darkness just once when a severe thunderstorm struck the area during a game several years ago. Press reports say the lights on the Alaska Goldpanners home field won't even be plugged in for tonight's game.